INDIA Meteorological Department (IMD) is looking at conducting a pilot project in 2023 for using drones for weather observations across India. Ever since the Ministry of Civil Aviation notified the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021, in August last year, there have been talks of the immense potential that using drones will have for multiple applications. Although this included talks about observational forecasting by the IMD, it was the Minister for State for Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh, while speaking at the 147th Foundation Day event of the IMD on Friday, brought the issue to the forefront.

 

He had said that his Ministry will deploy and use drone-based observation technology in a big way for strengthening the localised forecasting, besides adopting the high-resolution models. IMD Director General, Mrutyunjay Mahapatra told IANS: “It is still at a very initial state. We are looking at a pilot study in about a year.”